War Sweater
by RebeccaK6504
Summary: His once silver wedding band was now just a mesh of dried blood. His eyes darted down to Peyton as he clasped his hands tightly, he was never one to turn to prayer but if there was a God then this was as good a place as any to start. Leyton, Naley. 6x24.
1. Chapter 1

He took off his new, silver wedding ring, placing it to the side of the sink before his hands gratefully sunk into the lukewarm water. He was unsuccessfully trying to wash away the dark, crimson marks that had stained onto his pale skin. All of the scrubbing and the soap in the world couldn't get rid of the pain of what had just happened to them. There was just so, so much blood.

Blood.

He could remember learning in high school one year in Biology about how many pints of blood the average human had. Seeing it there in front of his own eyes, he still couldn't comprehend it, that the blood he had just seen was only a fraction.

His eyes continued their ascent as he finally faced himself in the mirror. This man that he was staring at was a stranger, the sunken eyes, the worried and serious expression permanently etched onto his face and the faint smudge of blood below his jaw.

He had to be strong.

He had to be strong, strong for Peyton and strong for the baby. Their baby. Right now Peyton was probably being wheeled into an operating theatre, an operating theatre that he should be in too, with her. The only reason he wasn't was because a nurse had advised him to go clean himself up in this small bathroom down the hall

His eyes travelled back down towards his once white shirt, the white shirt that was now marked through by that dark crimson liquid.

This wasn't him. This wasn't the way that their life was supposed to go. Only hours after himself and Peyton had gotten married, and tragedy was striking them from every possible angle.

Staring up at the mirror once more, he fixed his lips into a thin line and he nodded slightly to himself, a silent reassurance towards himself. Remembering to pick up his wedding band, placing it carefully in his right pocket as he begun to dry his hands.

Lucas took a deep breath and put on the brave face he needed to walk out the door.

He didn't want to be there. Standing helplessly up in the gallery of the operating theatre while his wife was down there, about to go through life threatening and life changing surgery. This was how his future started.

Peyton could die. The baby could die.

They could both die.

He needed to be down there with her. He needed to be down there to hold her hand and kiss her and tell her that everything will be okay.

Peyton must be so scared; she's all alone, surrounded by a bunch of surgeons that she didn't even know. She probably didn't know what was going on; she probably didn't remember anything since she had blacked out back home before Lucas had found her.

He could feel his own heart beating faster and faster every second, thumping against his chest, like it was going to burst any second. He urged himself to breath, realising quickly how he hadn't been, and to just calm down.

Everything would be okay.

It wasn't just Peyton that he had to convince.

Haley had come at one point, then Nathan, then Brooke, then Julian.

He was glad he had support there with him but he couldn't shrug of the thought at the back of his mind that he just didn't want them to be there. He needed to be alone.

People would unnecessarily speak to him and he needed silence.

Thankfully, Haley got that, and ushered the others into the waiting room.

Looking down at Peyton on the operating table below wasn't something he wanted to talk about.

The blood on his shirt had slowly started to dry, leaving just a lighter shade of red in the place of the dark crimson. Not that it made any difference; he could feel Peyton's blood everywhere on him. His shirt, his skin and even more so just plain on his hands, despite how much he had washed them. Though, he still hadn't put his wedding ring back on.

Then finally he heard a cry, a faint one through the glass from the gallery, but a cry nonetheless. Instinctively, Lucas's hand rushed up and he placed it against the glass, it was as much as he was going to get of his child for now at least.

His child.

His child was very much alive and well.

His child. Wait, was it a little boy or a little girl. He had to find out. Squinting slightly, and moving his head to get a better view of the nurse that was holding them, he saw the faint flash of a blanket. Pink.

He had a baby girl.

Peyton. Peyton was still on that operating table.

Lucas looked over, sharply turning his head back so he could continue his watch over his wife. It looked good, maybe it was going to be okay, they would be fine and they would go home and be a family at last.

He couldn't help but smile a little at the prospect of this; this was the best thing that could happen to them.

He couldn't have been distracted for long could he, because suddenly a fast beeping noise could be heard.

Peyton was crashing.

Immediately his hand flew into his pocket, grabbing at his wedding ring.

His once silver wedding band was now just a mesh of dried blood. His eyes darted down to Peyton as he clasped his hands tightly, he was never one to turn to prayer but if there was a God then this was as good a place as any to start.

_**Sorry about how badly written this chapter was, it was more a scribble in the back of my notepad that a real written chapter but I like it and I have great ideas. By the way, me writing 'him' or 'he' more than writing 'Lucas' was deliberate. I just wanted to do it saying 'he' when describing the events. I'll upload soon if you want me to.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys thank you for the WONDERFUL response to my first chapter. 16 reviews for 1 chapter. Wow. Just, thank you so much.**

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8 days. 192 hours. 11520 minutes.

The time that Peyton had been in a coma felt like a lifetime to him. He didn't know how much longer he would be able to cope without her and it was eating him from the inside out. Lucas needed Peyton.

Lucas didn't know if he would be able to cope any more days having to go home to their baby alone. Their baby that didn't even have a name yet. If he named their little girl by himself then he might as well admit that Peyton wasn't going to wake up, that she was dead. Damn it, they hadn't even had a chance to think about names together. He knew that she wanted to call the baby Anna after her mother but he wasn't sure if she still wanted that. What would he do if Peyton woke up and he had named their child a name that she hated?

He couldn't even begin to think that way because if he thought that way then he would start thinking about life without Peyton. He had to face the truth, what the doctors had said to him, that there was a possibility that she might never wake up.

He brought her root beer floats every day. He knew that they would go to waste but he couldn't help but hope that maybe Peyton would be up drinking one when he walked into her hospital room. It sounded stupid but they were her favourite drink and they always made her feel better.

God, he sounded like such a little kid.

God. Lucas had turned to God a lot over the past week, praying day in and day out for a better tomorrow. He had never been one to turn to religion; he had never really actually been a religious person at all. Hell, his best friend was the minister at his wedding via a website where you could get ordained in less than an hour. Seemed like a better idea at the time to be honest. He had to laugh at the thought of that.

He had sat in the dingy, old hospital chapel that had been installed two floors down from Peyton's room and _begged _that if there was a God, that he would bring his girl back to him even just for another couple of minutes.

What Lucas would do for just a few minutes to spend with Peyton. Just to hear her voice once more, to kiss her one last time, to see her beautiful smile when she looks at their daughter for the very first time.

This wasn't the way it was supposed to go.

He was supposed to panic when she told him that it was time, he was going to end up losing his car keys or forgetting the overnight bag that they had packed weeks ago. Peyton was supposed to have their baby and have sweat running down her forehead, she was supposed to be screaming and squeezing his hand as hard as she could so that there would be bruises later. He would do something stupid like faint and then they would both hear the cry of their baby and everything would be made better. They would both look down at their tiny baby and it would be the happiest moment of their life.

This wasn't the way that it was supposed to go.

Brooke and Haley and all of the rest of their friends were supposed to be coming to visit them and fight over who got to hold the baby next. They weren't supposed to be coming to the hospital with tears streaming down their face when they say the condition that Peyton was in. Lucas was sick of the sympathy looks and the pats on the back.

He just wanted to be alone with his wife.

Scratch that. He just wanted Peyton to wake up and share one of those melting root beer floats with him.

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**Thanks for reading this. Please review because it means a lot to me. **

**I just wanted to say that something happened to me and it hurt me a lot. On one of my Grey's Anatomy fics I got an anonymous review and it was mean and it really hurt my feelings. I just wanted to thank all of my other readers for never doing that sort of thing to me and for being behind me all the way.**

**I'll upload soon if it makes you happy. **


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